Fountain marker



April 7, 1964 J. L. LA MURA FOUNTAIN MARKER Filed Jan. 24, 1963 F I G. 3

I/II/I/IIII) ii [I] FIG.5

JOSEPH L. LOMURA INVENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent Office 3,127,630Patented Apr. 7, 1964 3,127,630 FOUNTAIN MARKER Joseph L. La Mura, 367Passaic Ave., West Caldwell, NJ. Filed Jan. 24, 1963, Ser. No. 253,613 4Claims. (Cl. 15-537) This invention relates to a fountain marker whichcan be employed to apply ink to various surfaces for identifyingpurposes. The invention has particular reference to a locking means forretaining a marking wick in operative position when the marker isinverted.

Many structures have been designed and used for marking various objectswith ink for identification purposes. The usual type of markerarrangement includes a supply of ink in a storage container connected toa wick which is generally made of felt or some similar substance. Priormarkers have used a wick which is per manently secured to the supplycontainer and always extends beyond the end of the container where it isavail able for marking purposes and also in a position where the ink ormarking fluid may evaporate and render the device inoperative. Somemarkers have been provided with a cap which helps to keep the fluid fromevaporating but, even in such structures, the wick or marking stylus isliable to get hard and fail to operate. The present invention includes amovable wick or marking member which moves into a recessed chamber whennot in use. A close-fitting cap seals the unit from evaporation andprevents the wick from losing its effectiveness. When the device is tobe used for marking, the cap is unscrewed and the device is invertedthereby permitting the wick to protrude beyond the end of the markingdevice, and then when pressure is applied to the marking felt, anautomatic ball lock retains the wick in its extended position so thatpressure may be exerted on the wick without its receding into itsenclosing chamber. After the marking operation is completed, the deviceis turned to its erect position and the wick moves to a retractedposition where it is completely enclosed and protected. The cap may thenbe applied for sealing the entire device.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an improved fountainmarker which avoids one or more of the disadvantages and limitations ofprior art arrangements.

Another object of the invention is to provide an enclosed fountainmarker which cannot leak or evaporate and which will be ready forinstant use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fountain marker having awick which is retractable and can be repositioned within the markingcontainer so that it will never dry out.

Another object of the invention includes an automatic lockingarrangement which retains the marking wick in its extended position wheninverted.

Another object of the invention is to provide an automatic arrangementwhereby the marking wick is moved to its retracted position whenever thecontainer is turned slowly to its erect position.

Another object of the invention is to retain the marking felt in aclosed compartment when not in use so that it will retain its moistureand desired brushing texture.

Another object of the invention is to supply a sufficient amount ofmarking liquid to the felt at all times so that it may be usedcontinuously.

The invention includes a container having an internal reservoir for thestorage of marking fluid. A piston chamber is secured to the upper endof the container for the passage of the fluid. A piston is positionedwith in the piston chamber and is free to move in a longitudinaldirection when the container is inverted. Automatic locking means areprovided for retaining the marker in an extended position when thecontainer is retained in its inverted position. The locking means isdisengaged when the container is moved to its upright position therebypermitting the piston and the marker to recede within the piston chamberso that a cap may be applied to the device to seal it againstevaporation of the marking fluid.

For a better understanding of the present invention, together with otherand further objects thereof, reference is made to the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side View of the container with its cap attached.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the marker shown in FIG. 1 takenalong line 2-2 of that figure.

FIG. 3 is a side view, partly in section, without the cap showing thefountain marker in an inverted position with the marking felt ready forthe application of marking fluid to an external surface.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view, to an enlarged scale, of the pistonchamber and the piston showing how the ball lock arrangement locks thepiston in an extended position.

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view of the marker shown in FIG. 1 and istaken along 5-5 of that figure.

PEG. 6 is a cross sectional view of the piston shown in FIG. 4 and istaken along line 66 of that figure.

Referring now to the drawings, the fountain marker is shown in FIGS. 1,2, and 3 and includes a cylindrical container it which is formed with areservoir 11. The container is closed at the bottom and has an enlargedbase 12 which is employed for supporting the marker in a verticalposition when not in use. The top portion of the container is normallyclosed by a conical cap 13 which is removed when the marker is to beuse-d. As can be seen in FIG. 2, the cap 13 is threaded to the topportion 14 of the container and the inside top surface 15 makes contactwith a portion of a piston chamber 16 thereby sealing the chamber andits contents from loss of liquid and from evaporation.

The piston chamber (see also FIG. 4) includes a rim 17 which makescontact with the upper edge of the container 1i) and a lower portion ofthe piston chamber extends downwardly into the reservoir 11. The pistonchamber 16 is pressed into the upper opening or neck 14 of the containerand remains in this position at all times. The piston chamber is formedwith a cylindrical axial space 20 and a metallic piston 21 is positionedwithin this space, generally free to move in a longitudinal direction,but having means for retaining the piston within the chamber at alltimes. The piston chamber 16 has a small opening at its upper end forthe passage of a marker wick 22 when in its operative marking condition.The piston chamber is closed at its other end by a permeable disk 23which may be of felt. Disk 23 may be perforated with one or more smallholes but it has been found by experiment that a coarse felt providesthe necessary penetration to permit the marking fluid from the reservoir11 to enter the interior of the piston chamber at a rate sufficient tosupply the wick 22 for continuous marking of exterior surfaces.

The wick 22 is secured to a small depression in the piston 21 and thepiston is prevented from moving through the upper hole in the pistonchamber by a shoulder 24. When the piston 21 is in its retractedposition and the marker is in its vertical position, the lower portionof the piston limits against an annular construction 25 formed in thepiston chamber. It will be noted that while the piston 21 is free tomove in a longitudinal direction it cannot move any lower than theposition shown in FIG. 2 and cannot move outwardly farther than theposition shown in FIG. 3.

In order to retain the piston and its marking wick in marking position,two balls 26 are positioned within the piston chamber and when thecontainer is inverted and the piston 21 falls to its extended positionwith wick 22 extended beyond the piston chamber, the two balls fall intocontact with the rear end 21A of piston 21 and then, when pressure isexerted on the wick 22 by applying it to an external surface, the pistonand balls are moved to the position shown in FIG. 4 where the balls actas interponents between the end of the piston 21A and the upper surfaceof constriction 25. This locking means retains the wick 22 in itsextended position and permits considerable pressure to be exerted uponit during a marking operation without having the wick retracted.

In order to move the piston and wick to its retracted position after themarking operation is finished, the container is raised and then slowlyturned to its erect position. During this operation the balls are firstloosened and then permitted to roll, one by one, into the volume betweenthe constriction 25 and the permeable material 23. The piston then isfree to move to its fully retracted position as shown in FIG. 2 and thecap 13 may be screwed into position to seal the marker and preventevaporation of the marker fluid.

It has been found by experiment that two balls present the mostsatisfactory arrangement for producing the lock described above.However, three balls may be used and give good results.

From the above description it will be evident that the fountain markercan be used as described to exert considerable pressure on a markingwick having a continual supply of marking fluid. The wick is retained inits operative position by simply inverting the container. The entireinternal system may be secured against evaporation and hardening byinverting the container and replacing the cap.

The foregoing disclosure and drawings are merely illustrative of theprinciples of this invention and are not to be interpreted in a limitingsense. The only limitations are to be determined from the scope of theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A fountain marker comprising, a cylindrical container closed at itslower end and defining an internal reservoir for the storage of markingfluid, a piston chamber secured to the upper end of the container andsupporting a movable piston therein, said chamber formed with an openingat its upper end which permits the passage of a marker wick but retainsthe piston, said chamber closed at its lower end by a permeable disk forthe passage of marker fluid fromthe reservoir into the chamber, anannular constriction intermediate the ends of the chamber for limitingthe motion of said piston and to aid in locking the piston in a markingposition, means for securing the marking wick to the upper end of thereservoir for the storage of marking fluid, a piston cham;

ber secured to the upper end of said container and enclosing a movablepiston therein, said chamber open at its upper end for the passage of amarker Wick, said piston chamber also formed with an annularconstriction intermediate its two ends for limiting the motion of Saidpiston and to aid in locking the piston in a marking position, said wicksecured to the piston at its upper end, and a single spherical ballenclosed in said piston chamber for retaining the piston in a markingposition when the container is in an inverted position by limitingagainst the annular constriction, said single ball also adapted topermit the piston to move to its fully retracted position within thepiston chamber when the container is in its upright position.

3. A fountain marker as claimed in claim 2 wherein said piston is closedat its lower end by a permeable disk which permits the passage of markerfluid from the reservoir into the chamber.

4. A fountain marker as claimed in claim 2 wherein a closure means isprovided for sealing the open end of the piston chamber when not in use.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,908,926 Jockers Oct. 20, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 86,139 Netherlands Aug.15, 1957 1,164,875 France May 19, 1958

2. A FOUNTAIN MARKER COMPRISING, A CYLINDRICAL CONTAINER CLOSED AT ITSLOWER END AND DEFINING AN INTERNAL RESERVOIR FOR THE STORAGE OF MARKINGFLUID, A PISTON CHAMBER SECURED TO THE UPPER END OF SAID CONTAINER ANDENCLOSING A MOVABLE PISTON THEREIN, SAID CHAMBER OPEN AT ITS UPPER ENDFOR THE PASSAGE OF A MARKER WICK, SAID PISTON CHAMBER ALSO FORMED WITHAN ANNULAR CONSTRICTION INTERMEDIATE ITS TWO ENDS FOR LIMITING THEMOTION OF SAID PISTON AND TO AID IN LOCKING THE PISTON IN A MARKINGPOSITION, SAID WICK SECURED TO THE PISTON AT ITS UPPER END, AND A SINGLESPHERICAL BALL ENCLOSED IN SAID PISTON CHAMBER FOR RETAINING THE PISTONIN A MARKING POSITION